YOU'RE NEXT

YOU’RE NEXT Review

By Darin Skaggs

     In Adam Wingard’s new film You’re Next about ten minutes is spent setting up the Davison family, a group of ten or so people, who are all gathering at the new home on the outskirts of anything.  Then someone, spoilers, kills Tariq who is a boyfriend to one of the daughters in the family.  He is killed by an arrow being shot into his head during a family argument.   When someone notices it all hell breaks loose and the home invasion horror film does not slow down from there, not even a bit.

     The great thing about this first death is that the actor that plays Tariq is a horror director in real life named Ti West.  He is known for his slow burn horror films such as The Innkeepers.  What this film is basically saying by hiring West, making him play a filmmaker in fact and then killing him first and foremost is that this is not going to be a slow burn horror film; it’s going to be a non-stop slasher home invasion thriller.  That is also the kind of humor you can expect from this darkly comic film.  Many deaths are played for laughs with a few horrific and sad moments to not make you feel terrible for enjoying the violence so much.  The film lets you laugh at the misfortune and then makes you search yourself and find out what kind of person would laugh at this.  As the film goes on the deaths get more creative and bizarre.  And unlike the Saw franchise these deaths are not meant to just one up the last one to make you squirm.  They are there for you to get your adrenaline going so you can enjoy your experience.

     There are some twists in the film that in the moment you do not see coming.  Yet, in the second viewing or thinking about the film in retrospect they make perfect sense.  The hero of the film is not who you expect at all.  This sentiment is topped off with a great ending which is the most fitting for a horror film in a long time.

     This is not so much a scare film, with some jump moments.  It is more of a thriller, almost like a roller coaster, that doesn’t stop for anything.  This film is a blast and makes you question your very morality.